Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan has urged India to make bilateral trade procedures easy in line with facilitating the businesses of the countries.
“Bangladesh and India have ample scope to work together for obtaining mutual benefits, especially in readymade garments sectors,” Faruque said while talking to Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Vikram K Doraiswami at the BGMEA office on Thursday.
They discussed the existing problems in export-import especially in RMG and textile industry and possible ways to address them.
They also discussed potential areas of further collaboration between Bangladesh and India to derive mutual trade benefits, an official hand out said.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, Bangladesh exported goods worth $1.096 billion to India in the fiscal year 2019-20, of which $420.72 million or almost 47 per cent was textiles products.
The EPB study reveals that Bangladesh, despite being the second-largest apparel exporter in the world, has only 13.71 per cent share in the Indian import of clothing from rest of the world
On the other hand, Bangladesh imported goods worth $7.645 billion from India in fiscal year 2018-19, which was 13.66 per cent of Bangladesh’s total global imports.
Under the circumstances, the BGMEA president said Bangladesh and India can reap more trade benefits through further collaboration, especially in the area of apparel and textile industry.
“There are huge opportunities for Bangladesh and India to complement each other in boosting apparel and textile business in both countries,” he said.
The BGMEA chief also said, “India is a potential RMG export market for Bangladesh as it relies on India for import of raw materials including machinery, cotton, yarn, fabric, chemicals and dyes.”
“Indian domestic apparel market is growing and Bangladesh can tap the opportunity. So, there lie reciprocal trade benefits for both Bangladesh and India,” he added.
He requested the Indian High Commissioner to expedite and facilitate trade through the land ports including Benapole in order to reduce time and cost.
He also called for easing travel procedures including visa and resuming flights especially for business people from Bangladesh.
“Bangladesh RMG industry is focusing more on production of valued-added apparel items and innovation in product development and process optimization. India has a huge pool of designers and technical experts and exchange of knowledge and expertise will benefit both countries,” the BGMEA leader said.
BGMEA Vice President Shahidullah Azim, Directors Asif Ashraf, Md Mohiuddin Rubel, Tanvir Ahmed, Abdullah Hil Rakib, Deputy High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Dr Binoy George, and Commercial Representative Dr Pramyesh Basall, among others, were present at the meeting.
